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||| David Lean |||
David Lean

Honored with the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1990, Lean’s body of work (ranging from the intimate film to the grandiose epic) demonstrates an obsessive cultivation of craft and a fastidious concern with detail that has become the very definition of quality British cinema.

Adapted from Noel Coward’s one-act play, Lean takes a potentially boring story of middle-age flirtation and tenderly creates one of the most enduring and poignant romance films ever made. Brilliantly underplayed, two happily married strangers meet by chance in a railway station and fall desperately in love, but never physically express the undercurrent of passion that exists between them, even during their final gut wrenching separation – if your heart doesn’t ache, you’re just not human!

Demonstrating moments of intimacy through gigantic display, Lean sets up the greatness of Pip’s expectations with the magnitude of his frightful encounters; one with an escaped convict, whose emerge into the frame reminds us what it’s like to be a child in a world of oversized, menacing adults, and another with the meeting of mad Miss Havisham, in all her gothic splendor.

Peter O'Toole made an enigmatic and lasting impression in his debut role as British officer T.E. Lawrence, who helped Arab rebels fight the Turks in WWI, and Omar Sharif has perhaps the greatest cinematic intro of all time as he magically appears through the ghostly waves of the desert heat, achieving Lean’s compulsive drive to create the perfectly composed shot. Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jose Ferrer, and Claude Rains round out this incredibly talented and magnetically charged cast.

Recommended by CarrieSpecht

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Oscar Handicap 2013: The Screenplays

By EdwardHavens

February 19th, 2013

Our annual Oscar Handicap series continues with a look at the writing categories.

Oscar Handicap 2013: The Screenplays

(For explanations as to how our scoring system works, make sure to read our first article in the series, Best Picture of the Year, linked at the bottom of this article.)


As a writer myself, I admire the hard work and dedication it takes to create a story that can crawl above the din of the seemingly millions of screenplays floating about. While many will say coming up with an original story is the tougher job, I believe it is the adaptation that is trickier. You have to find the balance between what to keep and what to cut, pleasing the author (if they are still alive) and/or the fans of the work. Everything really does begin with the written word. This is where it all begins, and any director who says a screenplay is just a blueprint is just an egotistical jackhole who needs to go back to making music videos and Planters commercials.


Best Original Screenplay

The Breakdowns
1) Best Original Screenplays have won for a film with at least one acting nomination 32 of the past 34 ceremonies (94.12%). Advantage: Amour, Django Unchained, Flight, Zero Dark Thirty
2) A film also nominated for Best Director has won for Best Original Screenplay 28 of 34 (82.35%). Advantage: Amour
3) A film also nominated for Best Picture has won here 28 of 34 (82.35%). Advantage: Amour, Django Unchained, Zero Dark Thirty
4) A BAFTA nominee for Best Screenplay hsa won 28 of 34 (82.35%). Advantage: Amour, Django Unchained, Moonrise Kingdom, Zero Dark Thirty
5) As long as you're not the one who wrote the lowest grossing nominee at the time of the announcements, you've won 28 of 34 (82.35%). Advantage: Django Unchained, Flight, Moonrise Kingdom, Zero Dark Thirty
6) Films written by first-time nominees have won 27 of 34 (79.41%). Advantage: Amour, Flight, Moonrise Kingdom (Coppola)
7) Nominees for the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay have won here 25 of 34 (73.53%). Advantage: Django Unchained, Zero Dark Thirty
8) Screenplays with only one credited writer have won 25 of 34 (73.53%). Advantage: Amour, Django Unchained, Flight, Zero Dark Thirty
9) Dramas have won Best Original Screenplay 24 of 34 (70.59%). Advantage: Amour, Django Unchained, Flight, Zero Dark Thirty
10) Original Screenplays set mainly in the United States have won 24 of 34 (70.59%). Advantage: Django Unchained, Flight, Moonrise Kingdom
11) Best Original Screenplay winners have had stories based in the past twenty years 23 of 34 (67.65%). Advantage: Amour, Flight, Zero Dark Thirty
12) The winner of the WGA Award for Original Screenplay has gone on to win the Oscar 21 of 34 (61.76%). Advantage: Zero Dark Thirty
Bonus)If your screenplay is your film's only chance of winning an award this evening, forget about it. Sorry, Wes Anderson. (0%)

By The Numbers
Boal's the numbers front runner, but watch for a spoiler from older voters wanting to honor Haneke's elegiac look at the end of a great love story
Michael Haneke, "Amour": +1, +2, +3, +4, -5, +6, -7, +8, +9, -10, +11, -12 (253 of 408, 62.01%)
Quentin Tarantino, "Django Unchained": +1, -2, +3, +4, +5, -6, +7, +8, +9, +10, -11, -12 (251 of 408, 61.52%)
John Gatins, "Flight": +1, -2, -3, -4, +5, +6, -7, +8, +9, +10, +11, -12 (223 of 408, 54.66%)
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, "Moonrise Kingdom": -1, -2, -3, +4, +5, +6, -7, -8, -9, +10, -11, -12 (173 of 408, 42.40%)
Mark Boal, "Zero Dark Thirty": +1, -2, +3, +4, +5, -6, +7, +8, +9, -10, +11, +12 (257 of 408, 62.99%)


Best Adapted Screenplay

The Breakdowns
1) Films with at least one acting nomination have won 31 of 34 times (91.18%). Advantage: Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook
2) As long as you're not the lowest grossing nominee at the time of the nominations, you've won 31 of 34 (91.18%). Advantage: Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook
3) Winners here have come from movies with a Best Director nomination 28 of 34 times (82.35%). Advantage: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook
4) Nominees for the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay have won here 27 of 34 (79.41%). Advantage: Argo, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook
5) Screenplays with only one credited writer have won 26 of 34 (76.47%). Advantage: Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook
6) The winner of the Writers Guild award in this category has also won here 26 of 34 (76.47%). Advantage: Argo
7) First-time Oscar nominees have won in this category 23 of 34 (67.65%). Advantage: Argo (Terrio), Beasts of the Southern Wild (Alibar and Zeitlin), Life of Pi (Magee)
8) Nominees which take place outside of the past twenty years have won 22 of 34 (64.71%). Advantage: Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln

By The Numbers
The "Argo" momentum should bring Chris Terrio one more statue for the mantle
Chris Terrio, "Argo": +1, +2, -3, +4, +5, +6, +7, +8 (192 of 272, 70.59%)
Lucy Alibar and Behn Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild": +1, -2, +3, -4, -5, -6, +7, -8 (120 of 272, 44.12%)
David Magee, "Life of Pi": -1, +2, -3, -4, +5, -6, +7, +8 (126 of 272, 46.32%)
Tony Kushner, "Lincoln": +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, -6, -7, +8 (184 of 272, 67.65%)
David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook": +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, -6, -7, -8 (174 of 272, 63.97%)


All articles in this series:
Best Picture of the Year
Best Director
Best Actor and Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress
Best Cinematography
Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Foreign Language Film
Best Animated Feature